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The EU Centre at RMIT presents a free seminar with Professor Gabriele Suder, SKEMA Business School, and Jean Monnet Chair.

This presentation analyses the significance of regional trade agreements and economic integration in the globalised world. It questions the validity of a universal regionalisation paradigm, and focuses its analysis on the process of international trade integration that the European Union (EU) pursues with geographically distant trading partners around the world in its quest for political and economic insidership. The paper also notes the role of the EU in the dynamics of contemporary regionalisation in parts of the world, and draws attention to the reality that geographical proximity seems to become less relevant than for instance institutional proximity and soft power considerations, and therefore that regional agreements offer themselves as an Ersatz (substitute) for globalisation. A particular question is whether regionalisation is currently driven by efforts to reduce the liability of foreignness, for example through economic and political soft power.

Gabriele Suder is Professor of European & International Business and Microsoft Partnership Director at SKEMA Business School. She holds a PhD in Management from the University of Bath, and an MPhil in Governmental Studies from the University of Strathclyde (UK).

The European Commission and its Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency acknowledged her expertise with the awarding of a Jean Monnet Chair in European integration in 2010. Before her academic career, she worked at Thomson C.E., Ferguson Ltd, and Sony UK, and she retains advisory positions for several corporations. Professor Suder authored the book Doing Business in Europe (SAGE). Her research on business strategy and the risk of terrorism in international business has been published in a range of academic journals. She also publishes frequently in international media, such as Le Figaro Economie, BusinessWeek, Korea Times and Japan Today.